


Chronos

by imacashew



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 08:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19058575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imacashew/pseuds/imacashew
Summary: He purely existed in the future when all he wanted to do was turn around to go back.But time wouldn’t, couldn’t work that. He wasn’t Chronos, manipulator of time. He couldn’t turn back the clock and go home.Until he could.





	Chronos

No matter how hard he tried, been told by friends and loved ones, told himself day after day, Steven Grant Rogers could never stop looking back.

People would tell him that he was a Man Out of Time and he believed it even when others said he wasn’t, that he was living in the moment.

A man pulled from his life in one decade and slammed into another, seventy years later.

A man who could be nothing but a soldier, constantly fighting in another man’s war.

A man who lost his chance to be with the right partner at the right time.

Time and time again, Steve was pulled to a new normal.

Adapting.

Learning.

New slang, terminology, and phrases to be learned.  New technology. New ways of life that he didn’t realize would’ve thought of existing when he was young and small.

He kept the past close to his heart and on his shoulders, heavy and unyielding, in the shape of a compass and a shield.  

Maybe he was getting old, but he didn’t want to live in a future where everyone he knew and loved were aged or gone, victims of the ticking clock.

The past was in the haunted look in his best friend’s eyes, but looking toward a future that Steve couldn’t accept. He purely existed in the future when all he wanted to do was turn around to go back.  

But time wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ work that. He wasn’t Chronos, manipulator of time. He couldn’t turn back the clock and go home.

Until he could.

* * *

It was possible that Bucky saw the longing in his eyes when the inevitable return of the Infinity Stones within the timestream.  Buck’s meaningful glance and hug told him everything that he needed to hear: an approval and a blessing, underlying with sorrow and fear.

There was still a part of him that struggled to say how selfish he was being, leaving Bucky, Sam, and other Avengers behind him for a past that didn’t have modern technology, medicine, or societal norms.

The thing was, Steve was tired.  Tired of fighting. Tired of losing. So very tired.

He wanted the war to be over.

He wanted a home to go back to.

Time kept going, no matter how many times one would reset the clock.

When the time came to it, he suited up once again to do his duty. To return the stones to their rightful place and fix the timeline.

He did what he had to do, always selfless.

This one last act wouldn’t be.  This was his. He was ready to live a life. The one time where he didn’t, couldn’t look back.

* * *

When he saw her again in the 1950s, it was like every other time he saw her.

In 1943, during the war. After the ice in the 2010s, when she was frail and grey. During the “Time Heist” in 1970, when the only thing separating them was an office window.

His breath taken away in awe of her strength, beauty, everything. _Everything_ that made Peggy who she was.

Everything that made Peggy who she _is_ , he reminded himself as he sat with her and explained everything that had happened and will happen in the distant future.

He saw the familiar pain and loss echoing in her eyes. The same look he saw every day in the mirror.  

When he held her again, he relished and smiled at the way her head nestled in the crook of his neck and how her arms wrapped around his middle. Warmth blossomed in his heart.

He didn’t realize how happy he made her as she brushed her soft mouth against his until her warm ( _beautiful_ ), brown eyes shed tears with a smile on her red-painted lips.

He closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head.

It was time to look forward.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to do a small character study of one of my favorite Marvel characters and his inability to let go of the past. Also, Steve and Peggy together made me sob tears of joy at the end of Endgame, so I needed to write about them.


End file.
